Up and Coming Weekly is a weekly publication in Fayetteville, NC and Fort Bragg, NC area offering local news, views, arts, entertainment and community event and business information.
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12 UCW OCTOBER 5 - 11, 2022 WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM Political environment tightens headed into election season by DAVID BASS, Carolina Journal e first poll since election season kicked into high gear following the Labor Day holiday shows a tighten- ing field between Republicans and Democrats at the state and federal level in North Carolina. At the same time, the poll continues to show widespread concern among voters about the direction of the country and the economy, in addition to strong disapproval numbers for Presi- dent Joe Biden. e split between Democrats and Republicans on the generic legisla- tive ballot narrowed compared to August, while the generic ballot for congressional offices remained largely unchanged, according to a new Civitas poll of likely general elec- tion voters. e GOP maintained a 46.6% to 44.5% edge over Democrats on the generic legislative ballot, while edging out Democrats by a 47.5% to 44.2% on the generic congressional ballot. e top race on this year's bal- lot — an open U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Republican Richard Burr — remains neck-in-neck. Democrat Cheri Beasley edged out Republican Ted Budd by a slim 44% to 43.7%, a statistical dead heat. 10.3% of the electorate remains undecided. "To me, this race continues to be one of the highly competitive, but perhaps second-tier national races — with Georgia, Arizona, New Mexico, and Pennsylvania — that people should be paying close attention to," said Dr. Michael Bitzer, professor of politics and history at Catawba Col- lege in Salisbury. "I think this is a race that feels like it will continue to be a 'margin of error' competitive race." A Democrat hasn't won a Sen- ate seat in North Carolina since Kay Hagan's victory in 2008. As of late September, the Cook Political Report ranked the contest as "lean Republi- can," while the New York Times' Five irty Eight blog forecast the race as the fourth most competitive in the country. Two other consequential elections on the ballot are for seats on the N.C. Supreme Court that could tip the balance of power in Republican's favor. In those two races, Republi- cans are maintaining comfortable leads — Trey Allen with 46% support to Democrat incumbent Sam Ervin's 38.9%, and Richard Dietz's 44.5% to Democrat Lucy Inman's 40.5%. ose support levels have barely shifted since May. Democrats hold a 4-3 majority on the state's highest court. If Repub- licans win both races, they would capture a 5-2 majority. While Democrats have clawed back a measure of lost support since the spring, the Civitas poll also showed that North Carolinians remain sour on the country's direction, the president's job performance, and an inflationary economy. Biden's approval rating stands at 39.3% compared to 54.9% who disapprove. Fifty-six percent said they believe the U.S. will experience an economic recession during the next twelve months, while 52.9% said it was "difficult" to afford food, 56.5% to afford gas, and 48.5% to afford housing. On election integrity issues, 66.7% said that voter fraud was either a "major" or "minor" problem, com- pared to 24.6% who said it wasn't a problem at all. Sixty-three percent favor voter ID with 25.7% against. e poll was conducted Sept. 24-26 and surveyed 650 likely general elec- tion voters. (Graphic courtesy John Locke Foundation) NEWS DAVID BASS, Carolina Journal. COMMENTS? editor@upandcomingweekly. com. 910-484-6200.